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Can Art play a role in the ever-growing divide between religions and cultures?A conversation with artist Lilianne Milgrom

Hosted by the JCCNV Cultural Arts DepartmentIn conjunction with the exhibit “The Psychology of Scapegoating” in the Bodzin Art Gallery, which includes works by Ms. Milgrom. The exhibition commemorates Yom Ha’Shoah and the 2015 Jewish Community Relations Council’s (JCRC) annual Holocaust remembrance event.

Lilianne Milgrom, an internationally acclaimed artist whose home base is in Fairfax, Virginia, recently returned from Paris where she exhibited in and co-curated The Bridge – a ground-breaking interfaith exhibition – before continuing on to Dinan, Brittany as artist-in-residence at the Yvonne Jean-Haffen Museum.

In the wake of the tragic spate of terrorist attacks that rocked Paris earlier this year, The Bridge, organized by the CARAVAN foundation, gathered artists from different faiths and cultures who offer unique visions for exploring our commonalities and bridging our differences. Particularly timely and poignant, the exhibition represents 47 Arab, Christian and Jewish artists from the Middle East and the West.

Ms. Milgrom will show slides of the fascinating artworks that make up The Bridge (the exhibition will travel to Cairo, London, Barcelona, Metz, Sweden and venues within the United States through mid-2016). She will also reflect upon the increasingly common phenomenon of scapegoating that has placed communities of Jews as well as Christians and Muslims at risk worldwide, and invite the audience into the conversation.

The daughter of Holocaust survivors, Ms. Milgrom is not new to the Northern Virginia Holocaust Observance. Her 2013 photographic series entitled Shadow projected the number tattooed on her mother’s arm onto her own body, graphically portraying the lasting trauma of the Holocaust on future generations. Her work was met with wide acclaim at both the JCCNV exhibit and later exhibited in New York City.

ARTIST STATEMENTKol ha’olam kulo gesher tzar me’od, v’haikar lo lefachedThe whole world is a narrow bridge. The main thing to remember is not to be afraid.Rabbi Nachman of Bratislav (1772-1810)The words to this popular Hebrew song have survived intact over the centuries and yet they provided me with the inspiration for my painting created for The Bridge exhibition. If ever there was a time to reach across cultures, religions, borders and peoples in order to pull the world back from the brink, it is NOW. My painting entitled ‘Narrow Bridge’ is a reminder that in order to truly bridge our differences we must conquer our fears and cross that narrow bridge without looking down.